


Since You Were a Child

by ladyofbearisland (PoeFaraday)



Category: Maleficent (2014)
Genre: Budding Love, F/M, Guardian-Ward Relationship, Post-Canon, Shapeshifting, headcanons
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-07-02
Updated: 2014-07-01
Packaged: 2018-02-07 02:23:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 938
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1881537
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PoeFaraday/pseuds/ladyofbearisland
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Diaval has been watching over Aurora since before she could walk. Now, all he wants is to teach her to fly.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Since You Were a Child

**Author's Note:**

> So... I love Diaval. Like...maybe a little too much. But that moment between him and Aurora where they finally meet face-to-face got me all shippy and headcanony, so I have to do something about it. Eventual fluff, but part 1 is just expo.

"Diaval, watch!" Aurora giggles. She is eighteen, but she still insists on making a game of climbing the trees throughout the Moors. It doesn’t help that Philip is busying himself with cleaning up King Stefan’s mess next door, otherwise he might be able to talk some sense into her. 

The black-haired man sits back against the trunk of the sprawling faerie oak, crossing his arms over his chest as Aurora picks her way out onto a long branch. “You know, one of these days, you’re going to fall and break your neck, princess,” he chuckles. “And you’ll have no one to blame but yourself.”

Aurora only giggles again at that, her nimble fingers grasping for purchase on the branch. “Nonsense! I’ll just have Maleficent turn me into a hawk!”

"A hawk!" Diaval laughs. "Perish the thought! You’d sooner be a sparrow or a wren than a hawk." 

Even as he teases her, he imagines what it would be like to fly alongside this fair-haired angel. He daydreams of air currents lifting his silky, night-black feathers as he introduces her to the freedom that is flight. He can practically hear her squeals of delight, her laughter as the dewy clouds cling to her newfound wings. She has sunlight in her hair, and he can barely stop himself from trying to picture what it would look like against soft golden feathers. 

"You’re not watching!" Aurora chides him, though as always, there is no real venom behind her words. Aurora couldn’t say a cruel word if she tried; such was the nature of the pixies’ blessing upon her christening. Diaval laughs and shakes his head.

"I’m sorry! I was just…thinking about birds."

"Well of course you were, silly! Aren’t you a bird yourself?" 

Diaval sighs. That truth has been inching farther and farther from his grasp as the years have passed. Since Aurora’s crowning in the Moors, Maleficent has given Diaval the gift of being able to change his form at will, rather than at her command. Of course, he would still follow her to the ends of the earth, but they were becoming equals. However, since she bestowed that ability upon him, Diaval finds he’s been spending less and less time as a crow. In fact, the only extended time he spends in his true form is when he either goes flying with Maleficent or wings over to the castle to check on Philip’s progress and see if there are any tasks with which he might need assistance. But in his heart, Diaval is still the old crow he’s always been. At least, he tries to be. 

Before he can answer, however, the subtle sound of cracking wood catches his ear. His heart leaps into his throat and he shoots to his feet just in time to see the end of the branch Aurora is on break under her weight. Aurora cries out in surprise, clinging to the wood. The branch sags, connected only by sinew. 

"Hold on, princess!" Diaval cries. She is high in the tree - impossibly high. To reach her, he would have to become a dragon again, but he does not always trust that form. Something about having all those teeth… He hears another crack, and looks up. Aurora is dangling in open air, with no branches between her and the hard earth. How did he ever let her get that high without noticing? 

"Diaval!" she cries, and he curses himself for letting this happen. 

In a rush of adrenaline, Diaval takes several steps backward before breaking into a run. When he reaches speed, he breathes, and through that breath, he feels great wings spreading from his arms, his body becoming that of a giant eagle. In that same moment, the last intact pieces of branch split, and Aurora falls through the air - her fall quickly broken by Diaval. She clings to him, and he can feel her heart racing, her chest against his spine. Slowly, he returns to earth, touching down and letting her climb off before shifting back to his scarred human form. 

"Don’t scare me like that, Aurora!" he gasps, looking at her with a desperate light in his eye. "You could have been seriously hurt!"

She gives him a mournful look and wraps her arms around him, squeezing as though she would never let go. “Thank you, Diaval…I’m sorry for scaring you,” she sniffles against his shirt. He gently closes his arms around her in a protective embrace. 

"It’s alright. It’s alright, princess. You’re safe. You have nothing to be sorry for. I should have been watching over you," he murmurs. 

Aurora turns her chin up to cast teary blue eyes on him, a small smile on her face. “But you’ve always been watching over me. You’ve never let me down, Diaval.”

His chest swells. He has suppressed his feelings for so long…he has told himself that it would be wrong, because he knew her as a baby. That he is far too old for her, though he does not look a day older than twenty-five. That she has Philip, and it would be unfair to come between them. A million excuses, and all of them convincing enough to help him keep those emotions in check. But in this moment, it’s hard. Harder than usual. He could almost cry for how badly he wishes he could tell her how he feels about her. 

"I’m…I’m your faithful servant, princess," he says, his voice soft and polite. "I would never forgive myself if I let you down."

Which is true. 

And for now, that’s all the truth Aurora needs to know.


End file.
